RICHMOND -- The executive committee of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved Monday the largest tuition and fee increases at the school since the state budget crisis five years ago.

Tuition and fees at Tech will go up 10.8 percent for in-state undergraduates -- from $7,397 to $8,198. Out-of-state undergraduates will see a 5.3 percent jump in tuition and fees -- from $19,775 to $20,825. Room and board rates will increase 7.2 percent next year, from $5,106 to $5,476.

Tuition and fees for graduate students at Tech will increase 8.3 percent, to $9,735, for in-state students and 9.9 percent, to $16,866, for out-of-state students. Off-campus graduate programs will cost in-state students $9,335 and out-of-state students $16,670.

On Monday, Tech President Charles Steger spoke briefly about the state budget reductions early this decade that drastically lowered state funding for public universities. Tech has still not completely recovered the $72 million in cuts, which amounted to about 26 percent of state general fund support at the time, Steger said.

"Every time you have a cut like that it takes four or five years to recover and you never really recover because you miss so many opportunities along the way," he said.

Steger also mentioned $13 million in ongoing costs related to the April 16, 2007, shootings and the continuing rise in the cost of health care to explain the need for the increases.

"There's just not enough money to go around," he said.

Tech's current budget was cut by more than $10 million to help the state deal with a $641 million revenue shortfall announced last fall. Much of those cuts were in the form of hiring freezes or delaying new positions in various departments, said Dwight Shelton, Tech's vice president for finance and chief financial officer.

Other reductions in research funding and the Virginia cooperative extension program eliminated another $3 million in state funding to Tech.

But Shelton said the state did what it could for higher education this year. He pointed out that the General Assembly approved 2 percent salary increases for faculty and staff this year and next despite the budget difficulties, and Tech did well when it came to capital fund spending. State lawmakers approved a $1.46 billion bond package last month that includes $59 million for construction of a medical school and research institute in Roanoke planned by Tech and Carilion Clinic.

The General Assembly also exempted higher education from additional state budget cuts after Gov. Tim Kaine announced another revenue shortfall in February.

"A further reduction would have been devastating," Shelton said. "We avoided that and for that they deserve a lot of credit."

The new state budget includes a 7 percent increase in support for financial aid, helping to offset the real cost of attending for students and families. Private funds also make up for some of the affordability issues that come with rising tuition. The Virginia Tech Foundation paid out about $15.9 million in student financial aid in 2006-07. Ray Smoot, the foundation's chief operating officer said between $12 million and $13 million of that came from the university's endowment, the $525 million pool of money managed by the foundation to fund scholarships, professorships and other university efforts in perpetuity.

The average total cost for in-state undergraduate students living on Virginia campuses reached 40 percent of per capita disposable income this year, about equal to the all-time high for the state set in 1994-95. Tuition rates at Virginia public colleges have traditionally been higher than the national average while the number of tax dollars per capita that go to higher education is on the low end.

Tuition and fees at Tech have gone up at about double the national average since a state-mandated tuition freeze was lifted in 2002. But the cost of attending is still relatively low when factoring in room and board costs. About 9,000 of Tech's roughly 23,000 undergraduates live on campus.

Shelton showed board members charts estimating the cost of attending Virginia public four-year colleges next year. Even with the large increase, Tech ranks 13th out of the 15 schools, more expensive than only Radford and Norfolk State universities. Without factoring in room and board, Tech ranks fifth. Shelton showed a similar chart for Tech's peer institutions nationally. Tech was 21st of 24 schools when room and board is factored into the cost of attending and 12th when it isn't.

"No one wants to hear about price increases," said Phil Thompson, chairman of the board's finance and audit committee. "But certainly this team has done a great job of balancing it relative to the landscape of competitors. I think that despite these increases, we're still in great shape."